


Simulacrum

by The_Void_Behind_The_Slaughter



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:14:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26962723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Void_Behind_The_Slaughter/pseuds/The_Void_Behind_The_Slaughter
Summary: Dib wakes up and everything seems normal, but if they were normal there wouldn't really be a story to tell, right?
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	Simulacrum

The sun was shining, the flowers were blooming, kids were playing, and deep inside his lair, an alien invader was about to conquer Earth.

  


  


  


A giant apparatus stood tall in the middle of the park’s town. It had 4 turbines on its side and a thin, but tall, exhaust fan in the middle. Its purplish color made it stand out from the rest of the buildings in the area, but no one seemed to notice anything at all. A gentle humming could be heard coming from thick cables connecting the device to the local power grid. The lights at the Membranes’ house flickered, Dib was well aware of the strange new construct that he saw from the window in his bedroom when he woke up, but something else was bothering him.

  


  


He went downstairs and found Gaz and Foodio 3000 on the kitchen. He sat down and just observed everything even though his sister didn’t really seem happy with that.

  


“Ugh, Dib. Will you stop staring at me? I’m trying to have breakfast here.” He proceeded to leave the room in silence while trying to keep eye contact with her. After leaving the house he looked from side to side as if he was looking for something or someone, but to no avail.

  


He ran, he could feel the sweat on his back and his accelerated heartbeat, the blood being pumped to his legs and arms, his glasses getting foggy, everything was at first glance ordinary. He looked upon the tall green house with purple roof, gnomes and two puffer fish. The door was closed, he banged on it.

  


At first there was no response, just an unnerving silence and then the door opened. He remained quiet waiting for someone to come out but nothing happened. He took a deep breath and went inside the dark living room. Suddenly Zim appeared out of the trash can.

  


“Dib, you’re finally here. Excited to watch me turning the pile of mud you call Earth into something useful for the Armada?” He watched him pronouncing those words carefully as if he finally found something that was missing

  


“Zim, was it you?” He seemed a bit surprised by Dib’s response to his treat. “Well of course, I’m the one who made that impressive machine that will doom humanity.” Dib remained in silence, multiple thoughts crossed through his mind, he came to the conclusion he didn’t really have any other option but confront him

  


“Zim, have you noticed how things are slightly off?” Before Dib could hear his answer he blacked out. When he opened his eyes he looked outside his window, everything was exactly as it should be, except that Dib had been through that day already, he remembered it perfectly. He could only recall the past 2 loops, but there was no way to know for sure how many times he had gone through the same day over and over without realizing. Dib knew something was happening, he just wasn’t sure what exactly but he knew there was someone who might have the answers he was seeking.

  


  


  


“ At last I will put an end to this, today I shall conquer Earth.” He said while looking at the mirror. “Yes, yes, that sounds almost as great as Zim himself. This is the day when this incredible conflict between the dib and me, that I was clearly winning, will be finally over.” He hears someone banging on the door “And it seems like he’s here already.”

  


The small alien gets inside the elevator, the excitement for his final battle could be felt in air. He waits until Dib is inside the house to leave the trash can for dramatic effect.

  


“At last I will-” Dib quickly cut him off before he could finish his sentence. “Zim, quiet now. Something is wrong here, the days are looping and it seems like I’m the only one who is able to remember them. Does your latest plan have anything to do with time travel?” Zim looked at him for a couple seconds, he was definitely annoyed for not being able to finish his monologue. “That’s not how things are supposed to happen.” Everything faded to black before he could even ask what he meant by that. When Dib woke up he knew Zim had something to do with the time loop, but for some reason he kept pretending that everything was normal.

  


He couldn’t understand why he’d do that, but after pondering over what happened Dib came to the conclusion that Zim had either managed to mess with time itself or he was trapped inside a simulation, the latter being the most plausible one. He decided to check the world around him. If this was a simulation there’d be something off based on his previous experiences. He checked the news, books, even his childhood photographs, everything checked out. Just when he was about to give up on that idea he found something that shouldn’t exist.

  


A picture of him and his family eating together in a restaurant that they’d be eating for the first time the following week. His hands started to shake. It looked real, it felt real, but that picture was not supposed to be there. His face was dripping with cold sweat, a turmoil of emotions taking over. Nothing made sense, he couldn’t understand why Zim would make that fake photo. It didn’t matter, he didn’t have to understand why he did it, he just had to know how to stop it and that he did.

  


  


  


  


“At last, Zim will reign supreme. This ends now, today I shall conquer Earth.” Dib smiled and looked at Zim in the eyes.

  


“You think you are so smart, huh? You thought you could trap me inside a simulation again without me noticing it?” Zim froze for a second “I mean I gotta admit, you did a great job at recreating Earth, down to the tiniest of the details, but you had to try and add a picture of me and my family eating in a place we’ve never been to. it doesn’t matter though, I’m finally free of your trap. Time to wake up.” Before Zim could do anything he blacked out.

  


He opened his eyes again. He stood up and sighed. “Computer, remove the coherence error, make sure there’re not others... Also there’s a memory glitch, the dib’s memory is not being erased.”

  


He looked at the sky for the first time in centuries, it still had that same orange color, the ruins were still there too, the remains of human kind. Among them a machine stood tall, it had been activated already and it worked, it worked too well.   
  


Earth died that day.

  


“It’s done.” the computer announced. Zim looked at the pod that would give him access to a life he had lost. “You don’t need to stay here. The Armada is gone, Earth is gone. You’re free to go wherever you want, it’s up to you though. What’s it gonna be Zim?

  


“...”

  


  


  


The sun was shining, the flowers were blooming, kids were playing, and deep inside his lair, an alien invader was about to conquer Earth.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you everyone. Special thanks to Melody of The Void and Lilly for giving me feedback. I hope y'all enjoyed this short story.


End file.
